Hawthorn Insights

Only 22% of the energy and electric utility discussion took place in the traditional media. Thirty-eight percent of the energy and electric utility conversation took place on Twitter (microblogs) and social networks (Facebook), with only 22% coming from traditional news sources like newspapers and television. The bulk of the conversation on social networks took place on Twitter, where the conversation is far more negative than other news and information sources. This is concerning for two reasons. First, federal, state and even local policy makers and regulators have increasingly taken to social media to communicate with constituents and to gauge public opinion on specific issues. Almost 100% of federal legislators actively use social media, and the National Council of State Legislators reports that only two states have no organized social media presence.

This could easily become a problem as the national discussion on smart meters continues to grow on social media and is trending increasingly negative. Hawthorn’s Power Monitor will track and report on this emerging discussion in a future issue.

The Hawthorn Group

The Hawthorn Group, L.C., is an
international public affairs company of senior political and corporate communications specialists. Hawthorn helps solve communications problems - public policy, media, crisis, customer, community, financial and employee - for corporations, associations and non-profit organizations.